A Bittersweet Love
by ChEu
Summary: Harry left with Ron to face his destiny. Hermione didn't like the idea of being left behind, so she with Ginny decides to join them. The journey won't be easy. But what happens when an unpleasant companion shows up? Some people are just meant to be.
1. A Cruel Detachtment

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the characters, places or objects related with Harry Potter, that's J.K. Rowling's.

"Hermione! Hermione! Please open up the door!" a red haired girl cried while knocking her best friend's door. "You have been locked in there for almost four days! Get out now!" Her temper was rising. "I'm tired of doing all the cooking and cleaning by myself, come out and help me!"

"Gin, I'm in the middle of something right now, I'll go and help you later," Hermione answered, trying to avoid Ginny.

"What in the name of Merlin are you doing?" Ginny desperately asked.

"Nothing, it's nothing, I'm just reading some books," Hermione answered, a little nervous.

Ginny opened the door, and to her surprise, she found that the room was a mess; books everywhere, pieces of papers, and lots of ingredients dispersed all over the place. "What the hell is all this? Thank Merlin you were just reading a book!" Ginny covered her nose. "What is that smell?" She looked over to where a cauldron lay. "I believe we finished Potions lessons about two weeks ago, give it a break, 'Mione."

Hermione closed the book she was reading, 'The Missing Shadows,' and walked over to Ginny. She looked like if she hadn't taken a shower in three days; her hair was all messed up, and her clothes were all covered with green stains. "Gin, I told you I was in the middle of something." Hermione changed her voice to a more casual tone. "I am trying to make this new potion Slughorn taught me before we left Hogwarts."

"So, Professor Slughorn taught how to do an old socks smell potion?" Ginny said with a tone of sarcasm in her voice. "Do you really expect me to believe that lie? Come on, even Ron can make up better lies." Ginny closed the door and stormed out of the room saying things to herself like, "Does she think I'm her personal servant?" and "What the hell is she hiding?"

Ginny went down to the kitchen to make herself some lunch. She felt totally alone; Harry was gone and so was her brother. Her mother and her father were all day out. Now that Dumbledore was gone, the Order was having more trouble than ever; they didn't have a leader, so it was very hard to get to an agreement on most decisions, researches, missions, and all that stuff she wasn't allowed to hear. Fred and George were at their shop, trying to cheer people up, something that they had found impossible lately.

Bill and Fleur were also working for the Order; they had gotten married three weeks ago. The ceremony had been quite simple and held on a little chapel on Muggle Paris. The reception was in Fleur's house in Paris as well. Ginny thought it was quite funny, since everyone talked like Fleur, and Ron was hypnotized by her cousins, which made Hermione so jealous she had yelled at him all the night, but nothing had worked until he saw her dancing with some French guy who said stuff like, "vous êtes belle." He went nuts, and Hermione had no other choice but to dismiss the French guy. Ginny laughed to herself, and then she sighed; all this nostalgic thoughts made her think more about Harry. That night they had danced together, he had been very sad for some reason which she didn't understand at the moment. Now she did. That had been their last night together.

The mood in number twelve, Grimmauld Place was depressing; everyone was scared, Mrs. Weasley cried all nights. She didn't expect Ron or Harry to runaway like that. Only Hermione and Ginny knew where they were heading when they ran away: Godric's Hollow. They both left without saying anything, they left Hermione behind, and Ginny had to stop her from leaving. She had promised Ron that she would do anything to keep Hermione behind. He was afraid of the danger she could have been in if she had gone with them. But now the most difficult task was to keep herself behind. She would have given anything to know where Harry and Ron were. She needed to be with them. She felt useless and overprotected but, overall, she felt afraid of a fatal ending. Her eyes watered, and she was yearning to cry but couldn't allow herself to do that. She had to be strong for her family, for Hermione, and for Harry.

Mostly, Ginny would have been happy that Hermione was around, but this wasn't one of those moments. Hermione seemed like an invisible person; she passed her days reading without talking to anyone. All this was seriously depressing. But now a feeling of curiosity surrounded Ginny. _What was Hermione really doing upstairs?_ she thought. Obviously, she wasn't going to tell her easily, but she, Ginny Weasley, was going to find out even if she had to make Hermione drink Veritaserum.

It was almost two in the afternoon when Hermione heard someone calling her name. It was Ginny informing her that lunch was ready. _But wait a moment, wasn't she mad at me?_ Hermione thought for a second, but she was so hungry that she decided to forget about that.

When Hermione reached the kitchen, she noticed that it was all clean and tidy, which made her felt guilty. The food smelled delicious. Ginny had made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, bread, and pumpkin juice. Hermione didn't resist, so she went down and took one of the chairs from table, sat, and begin to eat desperately_. This is awkward, Ginny should be really mad at me, she knows I'm hiding something_, Hermione thought while she was enjoying her lunch.

Then, Ginny stopped eating and drank a sip from the pumpkin juice. "So, you have been working on something for almost four days upstairs. Are you planning to tell me, or are you going to keep me working like and House Elf for the next two months?" she asked Hermione challenging her.

Hermione swallowed. "Ginny, I'm sorry, it's not my intention to keep you doing all the house duty by yourself." Ginny rolled her eyes. "It is just that I'm working on this new potion, you know. It is great to be able to do magic outside of Hogwarts, I am already seventeen."

Ginny's temper was rising. "Thank you for the reminder, but I'm getting tired of your damn lies and you avoiding the cleaning and cooking; so unless you tell me what the hell you are doing upstairs, I'm going to make you drink Veritaserum, and then I'm going to starve you to death," she finished, almost screaming to Hermione.

Hermione choked, and then she stood up. "Yes, you can starve me to death, but let me remind you again that you are not allowed to make magic outside Hogwarts!"

Ginny was red in the face. "I do not need any wand to brew a potion. Anyway, that's not the point; the point is that you're a liar and that you do not trust me." Ginny was left without words. She wanted to cry, she was not able to hold it anymore. She began saying between sobs, "Here in this place no one trusts me, everyone thinks that I am not capable of doing anything useful, and everyone wants to overprotect me. I have to pretend that I understand, but guess what, I don't! How dared he leave me like this! I don't know if he is alright or if he is trouble, and it's only been sixteen days since he left! Merlin, I hate him!" She collapsed and started to cry desperately.

Hermione ran over to where her friend was and hugged her. She knew it was Harry whom she was talking about. "Gin, I know it is hard, but you know I'm here. We have to face this together. On the other hand, I am sorry, I didn't want to lie to you, but I thought it was the best if I didn't tell you. I thought you would try to stop me." Silence fell between the two of them.

Then, Ginny stopped crying and asked Hermione, "What are you exactly doing upstairs?"

"It is hard to explain, but please, Ginny, don't try to stop me again," Hermione said, remembering when Ginny stopped her from running away to Godric's Hollow. Ginny nodded at this. Then Hermione continued. "Basically, I have brewed this potion that can tell me the exact location of Ron and Harry in this exact moment. It is called the Lost and Found Potion. Usually, it is used to find lost objects, but I have been trying to make it work on humans."

"WHAT! How…? And does it work?" Ginny said with an incredulity tone in her voice.

"Well, I haven't got good results in the human part yet. According to Mysteries of the Magic by Peter Roninhall, this potion will not work on humans because most of the times, these persons that we try to find don't want to be found," Hermione said, disappointed.

"There has to be someway, maybe I can help you." Ginny made a pause. "If I'm allowed to, of course," she finished with an innocent voice.

"Of course you can, but don't you dare to stop me if you change your mind," Hermione said, threatening.

"Mmm... OK, deal?" Ginny asked.

"Deal," Hermione responded.

**Author's Note: **I hope you enjoyed the story, chapter two will be up this week. Please leave me a review! I'll be very happy if you do it! Thanks!


	2. Aftereffects of Veritaserum

**Disclaimer:** I own two dogs, a computer for writing the story, a little brother who is bothering me right now and many things I'm not able to remember right now. One thing I can assure you, I do not own Harry Potter, that's J.K Rowling's.

**Chapter Two: **

**Aftereffects of Veritaserum**

Hermione and Ginny finished their meals without saying any word. Ginny decided to break the ice. "'Mione, I have been wondering through the entire meal, how does this potion of yours work?" she asked.

"Pretty well, if you are so anxious to know..." Hermione fell quiet and thought well of what she was going to answer. "The Lost and Found is a very unknown potion because most wizards find it useless. It takes almost twelve days to brew it, and then, when you are finished, you have to introduce a hair of the owner of the lost object and drink a sip of it." She stopped to breathe and continue to answer Ginny's question as if she knew it by heart. Actually, she did. "While drinking it you have to focus on the lost object and nothing more, then you should see some flashes of where the object lays." Hermione looked straight into Ginny's eyes. "The problem is that most wizards don't recognize the place that the flash shows. Also, our problem is that Harry and Ron don't want to be found, as I told you before."

Ginny sat, thoughtful, on her chair. "Ooh.. Umm.. Well, I guess now I don't have to ask you why everyone calls you Hermione-know-it-all." For a moment, Hermione looked upset, but then she flushed and giggled. Ginny decided to keep asking questions; she wanted to know as much as possible about this potion. "By the way, Hermione, have you tested it already?"

"Yes, of course, it worked perfectly. While I was brewing the potion, I lost one of my quills." Hermione paused and thought of how disorganized she had been the last couple of weeks; she felt ashamed of herself. Then she continued, "When I finished it, I introduced one hair of mine and took a sip, just to test the potion, of course. If I'd wanted to, I would have found it myself." Ginny rolled her eyes, Hermione understood. "As I was saying, I drank it and focused on nothing more than the quill. Seconds later, I was seeing it underneath of some books behind my bed. After the flashes faded, I looked for it, and there it was, just as in the vision I saw."

Ginny kept an impressed look on her face. "So…" She weighed her words carefully. "Basically, it works perfectly well, except for the human part." Damn Harry, she thought. "What exactly have you been doing for making it work on humans?"

"Ha ha, all kinds of things. I have tried extra ingredients, spells… You have no idea. Once I gave up and returned to my Divination books, and then, of course, I came back to myself…" She was cut off by Ginny.

"Are you serious? You, Hermione Granger, did that?" Ginny was impressed. "Merlin, I would have loved to see that, I just can't believe it," she thought loud.

"OK, I was desperate, would you please stop it?"

"You really think I'm going to forget about this? I will bother you with this for the rest of your life." Ginny laughed.

"We'll see… Would you mind changing the subject, Ginny?"

"Yes, I do mind, this is so much fun..." Ginny fell quiet. Then she thought about the potion and what it involved. "OK, I guess there are more important things to discuss."

"I'm glad you noticed," Hermione added.

"Is it possible to mix two or more potions?" Ginny asked out of nowhere.

"Well…" Hermione was surprised by that question. She had never thought of it, but of course, she knew the answer. "You can, but that will be the same thing as adding extra ingredients, and believe me, it doesn't always turn out good." She remembered when the day before yesterday she added wolf mucus to the potion, and as she saw the flashes, her vision had suddenly turned black and white. She was stuck like that for almost four hours. She resumed her thoughts and focused on Ginny's question. "Anyway, Gin, why are you asking?"

"It had occurred to me that maybe if we add Veritaserum it might work," Ginny answered.

Hermione thought of it. Maybe she was right. Then she thought better. "Let's see if I understand, Gin. You are suggesting that if we add Veritaserum nor Harry nor Ron will be able to hide their location to the potion?" More questions filled her head. "But how are we going to make the Veritaserum work on them and not on us? I don't think it's possible. I mean, it's not likely that Veritaserum transfers to them, and I don't know how the ingredients might act in combination with the Lost and Found ones..."

"HEY!" Ginny cut off Hermione's explanation. "I was just making a suggestion," she told her quietly.

Then Hermione stopped in her tracks. "Umm... Sorry, Gin," she said, and then she fell deep thought.

"'Mione, pay attention to me!" Hermione lifted her head up. "We can try," Ginny suggested.

"Are you mad? I am not going through a black and white vision again!" Hermione finished upset by Ginny's comment.

"What!" Ginny looked confused. "Anyway, if you don't want to, I will. I am not afraid of…"

"Are you out of your right mind!" Hermione was yelling as she walked in circles through the kitchen. "What if something horrible happens to you? I am not sure if I will be able to brew an antidote... Really, Gin, have you gone mad? What if…" She turned to see Ginny, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Ginny!"

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Ginny had reached the library before Hermione had noticed her absence. She knew that Hermione wasn't going to allow her to mix the potions, but it was her decision; she was going to do it. Ginny knew exactly where the members of The Order kept a bottle of Veritaserum —after Snape's betrayal they didn't trust themselves very much-- so they constantly used the potion. She looked behind some books in a bookshelf, and there it was: a half-filled bottle of Veritaserum. Ginny took it just as she heard from the distance Hermione's screams.

Ginny hid for a few moments, and when the coast was clear, she ran to the boys' room. She had to look for a hair of Harry or Ron. She ran through the hall. _Merlin, Hermione can be anywhere_, Ginny thought as she run. Finally, she reached the stairs; she was getting close. POP. "Shit!" she murmured to herself. She had forgotten Hermione could Apparate. She ran faster, there was no way Hermione was going to stop her, even if she Apparated in front of her.

Luckily, Hermione had Apparated in the other side of the flat. Ginny reached the boys' room, and she began looking in Harry's pillows and sheets. All clean. Apparently, Hermione had managed to take every hair from Harry's bed, and obviously, Ron's bed should be as clean. Fuck, what am I going to do? "Hairbrushes!" she thought out loud. Then she remembered that Harry never brushed his hair. She went to Ron's closet; it was empty. "The bathroom." She went into the bathroom, and she found nor hairs or hairbrushes.

"Damn! Hermione should have picked them all up." Then she got it. "Hermione must have tons of hairs hidden somewhere in her room." She got out of the boys' room as quietly as she could. She had to reach to Hermione's room, but first she would have to distract her. So she went out and took a vase that was near the stairs and threw it to the first floor. Then she hid in a closet nearby.

Hermione came running and went down the stairs. This was Ginny's opportunity, and she had to be quick. Hermione was no stupid, so she would be up in her room in no time. Ginny run as fast as she could. Finally, she reached Hermione's room. She closed the door very quietly and scanned the place. There it was, a cauldron lay on Hermione's desk. Ginny got closer and an old-socks smell filled her nostrils. She swallowed— _why did it have to smell so bad—_ she thought "Thank Merlin," she said happily. Right behind the cauldron lay two transparent boxes with hairs. She chose the one with black hair. After that, she took a cup and filled it with Lost and Found and introduced one single black hair. Then she added a few drops of Verisaterum and looked as the potion turned bright purple. She prepared herself. "This is for you, Harry," she said as if she was holding a toast. She drank it.

Another pop was heard. "Ginny, DON'T!" Hermione had Apparated inside the room, and all she could catch up was the word "Harry". _Merlin,_ she thought. She knew Ginny was a brave and reckless girl, but this was too much. She tried to stop her, but it was too late. She ran onto where she stood. Ginny had already drunk a sip— wait… much more than a sip!

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!" she yelled as Ginny's cup fell to floor.

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Ginny lay unconscious on the floor, and right beside her was Hermione. "Ginny, can you hear me? Wake up!" Nothing happened, so she tried to shake her awake. "Ginny, can you hear me?" Ginny opened her eyes slowly. "Ginny... Oh, thank Merlin you are alright!" Hermione hugged her. "What do you think you were doing?" She was too concerned to notice how dizzy Ginny was. " You scared the hell out of me, did you know that?"

"I assume… How much time was I unconscious?" Ginny finally managed to say.

"A minute or two," Hermione replied as she tried to sit Ginny. "Do you need something?"

"I have a huge headache," Ginny answered.

Instantly, Hermione began to look around her room for the medicine, which she didn't remember where she had left it.

"It is in the night table," Ginny told her.

The brown-haired girl went down to check for them on the night table, and to her surprise, the medicine was there. "How did you know?"

"I just knew…" Hermione gave her the bottle of the medicine and a spoon. Ginny drank it. "Would you help me to get up, please?"

"Yes of course." She took Ginny to her bed. "Are you sure you are alright?" Ginny nodded. "Well then, I will let you here so you can rest until the others come back, OK?" Ginny nodded again. Hermione walked to the door. "Ginny what you have done this afternoon was completely irresponsible, please promise me you won't do anything silly next time."

"Yeah," was all that Ginny managed to respond.

At this, Hermione closed the door. She went down the stairs and saw what was left of a vase. "Reparo!" The vase repaired itself and flew back onto its original place. She headed to the kitchen. With her wand she picked up all the dishes and glasses, then she performed a cleaning spell, and with that, she left the place. She spent the rest of the afternoon in the living room, trying to read a book, but as she turned onto page five, she fell asleep.

It was ten past seven, when two distant pops woke Hermione up. It was the twins, who had come back from their joke shop. She heard them calling her name and Ginny's, so she went to the kitchen to meet them. "Hello, my dearest red-haired twins, how was your day?"

"Oh, Hermione, you are here. We thought you were out doing girls' stuff." George greeted her and immediately Fred came into scene. "Hermione! So good to see you. Do you happen to know where our beloved sister is? We brought a letter for her from..." Fred was cut off by George. "You will ruin it, brother. Hermione, would you tell Ginny to come here? And don't mention anything about the letter, please." Both twins smiled, and Hermione laughed; she knew what it was.

Hermione Apparated in Ginny's room. "Gin, wake up!... How are you feeling?" Ginny barely opened her eyes and made signs to tell she was OK. "Your brothers are downstairs, why don't you come and join us?" Ginny took a pillow and covered her face. "They said they had a surprise for you." At this the redheaded girl got out of bed as fast as she could and ran downstairs.

When Hermione reached the kitchen, the three Weasley's were waiting for her. The moment had come. George groped around his bag for the letter.

"It's in the front pocket," Ginny stated.

"Wha—?." George was surprised when he found it there. "How did you know?"

"I just had the feeling it did," Ginny said carelessly.

"Well, my little sister, here is your letter," Fred said as George handed her the letter.

Ginny sat in one of the kitchen chairs. She read the envelope first. It was blank. _This is weird_, she thought. Then she opened it and began to read.

_Today I'm beginning my journey, and with it a goodbye of all that I have known through my whole life. __I don't know when all this will end, but be sure that when that day comes, I'll be there with you, guys. The day I left was the most difficult of all, but it was something that I had to do because of the different circumstances I could not control. I just hope you understand. Say hello to everyone and tell Ron to Hermione not to worry. I'm all right. You know what to do. Don't forget.._

Ginny sat down, thoughtful. She reread it three times. "How did you know it was for me?" she asked Fred and George.

"Well, because he told us before we would receive a blank envelope some day and that it was for you," Fred responded her quickly. Then he asked, "What did it say?"

"Umm, nothing… just that they were alright and... nothing." Ginny was really nervous, she made signs to Hermione, which she understood, and they both prepared to leave.

"Whoa, where do you think you are going? You're not leaving us without information!" George stopped them at the door.

"We want to know more!" Fred stood beside his brother.

"This is private, I shall tell you later!" Ginny said with tears in her eyes. "Please, let us leave."

"Gin, you can trust us... Please!" Fred begged.

"Fred, I shall tell you later," Ginny insisted. "Let us leave"

Hermione looked at them directly in the eyes. "Ginny needs time. I swear she would tell you if it was easy for her. Would you mind?"

"OK, but I feel rejected," George said sadly, as if in that way he could convince his sister.

"Oh, George, don't be such a drama queen!" Hermione said, annoyed.

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"Ron says you should not worry. They are alright," Ginny finally said after being quiet for several minutes. "Harry wrote wrong on purpose part of the letter for us to understand that."

"Really, can I see it?" Hermione rose from Ginny's bed and walked down to where Ginny stood. "Please?" she begged.

Ginny handed her the letter, Hermione also read it a few times. She also had tears in her eyes. They had finally made contact. "Well, obviously Harry doesn't want any stranger to know Ron is with him." Then she showed the letter to Ginny. "And he doesn't want you to forget him."

"Where does it say that?" Ginny took the letter and reread it.

"Here you can see at the end, _Don't forget_ " She pointed to the phrase for Ginny to see before explaining to her. "He left those two dots on purpose, as if meaning something, and the word _me, _has two letters. He cannot express any feelings towards you because of You-Know-Who," Hermione stated.

"Oh, now see... I missed that part." Ginny's eyes filled again with tears. "Hermione, we can't continue working with the potion if Harry and Ron don't want us to follow them." Ginny looked away and remembered the part of the letter that said, _You know what to do_.

"Yeah, I got that part." Hermione mumbled. "But that doesn't mean that we can't help them from here. We have to help The Order in whatever we can."

"I guess… But for now, I know what I have to do. I must not show any weakness, I have to support mom, even tough it hurts. I'm telling her that they are alright. Time will tell us what to do next." Ginny opened the door, dried her tears and set up a smile on her face, then she went down, leaving the door open for Hermione.

Hermione stayed in the room. Ginny had left the letter. She took it and examined it. She knew doing this for Harry was really difficult. She just wished she was there with them; she was so used to be with them defeating Voldemort. She remembered all the times they have been together…, On their first year when Voldemort possessed Professor Quirrell, then on their second year when the Chamber of Secrets was opened, their third year when she rescued Sirius with Harry, and on their fifth year at the Ministry of Magic... All the time she spent with them at Hogwarts, The Burrow, and The Headquarters.

Now she was here and they were... Merlin knows where... They knew how she was feeling, and obviously they were aware that she was going to go after them somehow. She read again the letter. They had just left Godric's Hollow, so the real journey was about to start. Where were they? Conversations with them during the summer came to her mind. Possible Horcruxes. Locations. She remind deep in thought until she heard Molly Weasley calling her for dinner.

She went down and greeted everyone: Mr. Weasley, Molly, Tonks, Professor Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, and of course, the twins and Ginny. They all sat in the table, and Hermione helped Molly to serve dinner. Molly had made chicken soup. Everyone was waiting for the soup, but Molly couldn't find the ladle for serving it. Suddenly, Ginny intervened. "Mom, it's in the second drawer." Molly was surprised to find it there. "Thanks, my dear," the mother thanked her daughter.

Molly began to fill everyone's dishes as they all talked about something related to Narcissa Malfoy. Everyone was paying attention, but not Hermione. She was deep in thought. This was the third time Ginny had known where a certain object was. First with her when she was giving her the medicine, then with Fred and George with the letter, and now with Molly and the ladle. This was weird… Was this an aftereffect of mixing Lost and Found with Veritaserum?

**Author's Note:** Well I hope you liked the chapter, this is longer than the last one. I'm working now on chapter three. Please leave me a review! Bye!

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